[Ip-health] Roche says Tamiflu not patented in Philippines

[Robert Weissman]

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=3Dnews02_nov25_2005

Manila Standard Today
November 25, 2005

Roche okays local Tamiflu production

*By Rey E. Requejo*

THE Philippines is free to produce a generic version of Tamiflu, a known
antibird flu drug, at its discretion and without paying compensation to
Swiss-based Roche pharmaceuticals.

In a Nov. 23 letter to Senator Mar Roxas, Roche Philippines general
manager Warwick Bedwell said that Tamiflu, otherwise known as
=93oseltamivir,=94 is not patent-protected in the Philippines, =93therefore=
,
voluntary or compulsory licensing cannot be pursued where no patent
protection exists.=94

=93The government of the Philippines is therefore free to manufacture a
generic version at its discretion and without paying compensation to
Roche,=94 Bedwell said.

Nonetheless, Roche expressed willingness to discuss the technical
aspects of the manufacturing of Tamiflu with the Philippine government
as an integral part of the country=92s bird flu preparedness program.

=93Roche remains willing to openly discuss the technical aspects of the
manufacturing of Tamiflu with the government of the Philippines in view
of our expertise and experience... and as a responsible company
interested in ensuring the best possible global preparedness for a
potential pandemic threat,=94 Roche official said.

In his letter, Bedwell also confirmed the purchase order for the
antibird flu drug from the Department of Health of 10,000 treatments,
7,500 of which will be provided in December 2005. The remaining
treatments would be delivered in March next year.

Roxas made the revelation during the start of Senate hearing on the bill
seeking to amend the intellectual property law to allow parallel
importation to lower cost of medicines, including the acquisition of the
generic version of Tamiflu.

=93What is important is that there is no legal restriction. Roche itself
is not imposing any restriction to our government being able to
manufacture a generic version of Tamiflu. In that process, we can have a
lot of savings,=94 Roxas said in an interview.

Bedwell=92s letter to Roxas came after Health Secretary Francisco Duque
III told senators last week that the government is stockpiling Tamiflu
capsules worth P4.1 million from the World Health Organization to
address 10,000 human cases.

=93We also signed a contract with Roche for the provision of 100,000
Tamiflu capsules,=94 Duque said, when he presented to senators the
proposed P42.6 billion budget of the DoH for next year.

The DoH chief said the Tamiflu supplies would be sufficient for 11,000
human cases.

In terms of donated drugs, the government is expecting a $1 million
worth of antiviral drugs from a pharmaceutical company, Unilab.

After DoH sought P160 million in additional funding, President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo announced that P2.5 billion would be allocated to beef
up the country=92s antibird flu program.